‘The road to the metaverse is not a straight one’: Social representations of virtual reality in the news media

The metaverse is considered by some to be the next big thing in the global economy. Despite technological progress and high expectations, scholars agree that a broader metaverse platform does not yet exist. Instead, it has been suggested that the metaverse exists mainly as an imaginary or a representation in various discursive contexts. However, studies that examine such representations are few, and the present study aims to – through the lens of social representation theory – critically explore how VR technology and the metaverse are discursively represented in Swedish news media. The analysis identifies three underlying themata: (a) The inevitability of technology, (b) The commodification of experience, and (c) The world of male pioneers. It is concluded that the news media’s representation of VR and the metaverse contributes greatly to maintaining the structural status quo. For traditional journalism to fulfill its democratic mission, a pervasive update of media logic is needed.